Hands-On: Capcom vs SNK Pro for the PSX

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Try not to mention the load times... try not to mention the load times...

By IGN Staff

Boy, oh boy, lemme tell you about the load times in Capcom vs SNK Pro for the PlayStation. In the demo of the game that was playable at the World Hobby Fair in Tokyo this past weekend, you wait for the logos to appear, which takes a bit of time (it's the PlayStation, afterall). Then, you push start, and select your mode. If you select arcade mode, you're in for a ten second wait for the character select screen to come up. Select your groove and characters, and prepare for more waiting -- like nearly twenty seconds. You eventually get into battle, of course, but there's more waiting in store. If you defeat an opponent who has multiple characters at his disposal, you'll have to wait ten seconds between rounds for the new character to load in.

Has loading on the Play Station always been this bad? If so, I feel sorry for those who've yet to see the glory of the Sega Saturn 4 meg ram cart, not to mention the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2, which offer up almost instantaneous load times for their fighting games. I don't think I could go back to playing fighters the old-school 32-bit way.

But, if you're stuck with a PlayStation, and you want a fighter, this is as good as it's gonna get for you. When actually in a battle, things come off reasonably well. Control is responsive, moves are easy to pull off with the stock PSX controller, and if you can ignore the slowdown, the game moves nice and speedy, especially in turbo mode.

It should be noted that this is not Capcom vs SNK 2, a game which features 3D backgrounds and was released in Japan on the PS2 and DC. Capcom vs SNK Pro is actually a marginal update to the original Dreamcast/Naomi arcade fighter which was released in Japan alone for the DC. If you have a means of importing, and you really want an upgrade to the original game (remember, part 2 is already out!), we'd suggest you track down the DC version. If that's not an option, and you really want a fighting game, look for Capcom vs SNK Pro for the Japanese PSX in April.